Sales salary in 2024: BDR, SDR, Account Manager, etc.

What salary, for whom?

The missions can be very segmented in Tech startups. This allows for a better specialization of tasks, and therefore greater efficiency. In this case, team employees move to a new role every 6 to 12 months to keep them engaged.

In any case, that's what all Business Developers who have gone through the aim of Akimbo Bootcamp !

While commercial organizations sometimes consist only of general Business Developers, they often have the following roles:

• Sales Development Representative (SDR): theoretically, focus on the qualification of requests Incoming. In reality: hunting, winning new customers. - junior profile.‍
• Business Development Representative (BDR): hunting, winning new customers. Creation and qualification of opportunities - more experienced profile than the SDR.‍
• Business Developer : role of general sales representative in start-ups - the missions are very different depending on the company.‍
• Sales or Account Executive : advanced qualification, negotiation and closing; hunting major accounts regularly.‍
• Account Manager : loyalty - development of existing accounts.‍
• Customer Success Manager : manage customer experience and retention.

You got it: each of these positions has different pay levels, and often even its own. salary grid internally.

The latter will therefore vary according to the position, but other elements also make a difference! First, it is vital to understand them well.

What does the Sales' salary depend on?

First of all, of the maturity of the company : a young startup (Early Stage) will not be able to pay its Business Developers in the same way as a startup that has raised tens of millions of euros. Thus, a newly created startup will often offer a lower fixed salary, and a higher variable salary. It will also offer free actions (via “BSPCEs”).

But conversely, mature companies sometimes maintain low salaries: they rely on their reputation on the market, their employer brand.

One recent fundraiser also puts management under pressure to recruit new profiles and allows a higher margin for negotiation.

The industry Second (also called sector of activity): in some industries, wages are generally higher. The sectors of cybersecurity, of Cloud And of the Finances (FinTech) are, for example, in full expansion. Working in these sectors requires more specialized skills than in other industries. You will be better paid there.

The hierarchy level and Of seniority are of course also important. A Key Account Manager (in charge of strategic customers) who has just joined the company may be paid less than his colleague Account Manager, who has been present for a longer time.

Likewise, your salary will largely depend on your performance. This is especially true for commercial jobs! In fact, the salary is divided between remuneration fixed and variable :

• The fixed amount will be received every month, no matter what happens.
• The variable will depend on your performance: it can be counted from turnover brought to the company, margin, number of customers signed Or of Number of leads (qualified prospects) transmitted... This variable can be calculated monthly, quarterly, or even every 6 months.

It all depends on the role of the employee and the decision of the company. The sum of the fixed salary and the variable salary is also called the “package”.

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Wages in figures

The package is therefore the annual fixed and variable remuneration added together, at 100% of the objectives achieved.

Here are the packages that we have the opportunity to observe on the market:

• SDR: 34 - 50K € package - fixed most often between €26k and €36k.
• BDR: 36 - 60 K€ package - fixed often between €32k and €45k.
• Business Developer: 35 - 60 K€ package - fixed often between €26k and €45k.
• Account Executive: 45 - 100 K€ of package - fixed often greater than €40k.
• Account manager: 40 - 70 K€ package - fixed often between €32k and €45k.
• Customer Success Manager: 34 - 50K € package - fixed often between €28k and €45k.

Of course, these amounts represent only one average Of these salaries. Discrepancies are possible and will reflect certain specificities of the business you are interested in.

Last clarification: we also often find”boosters” in the variable part of the salary: for example, for a Business Developer, the first 5 customers signed each month will each bring in €300 in variable. From the 6th reported customer, you will earn €500 per additional customer. Then €1,000 per additional customer from the 10th. The objective? Motivate you to get the 8th, 9th, and 10th new customers every month.

We therefore invite you to ask the right interview questions to understand The compensation plan of the company, its evolutions Futures as well as the share of employees reaching 50%, 80%, 100% of their goals.

Do not hesitate to ask the question unto several different people! And don't be blinded by an uncapped variable, it may not mean much.